KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Federal immigration officials are being sued by the families of two people who authorities say were killed by a Mexican national in the U.S. illegally.
The lawsuit filed in Kansas City, Kansas, alleges Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials negligently allowed Pablo Serrano-Vitorino to stay in the country illegally before he allegedly killed four people in Kansas and one in Missouri last year.
Serrano-Vitorino is jailed on one count of first-degree murder in Missouri. He also faces four counts of first-degree murder in Wyandotte County, Kansas.
The Kansas City Star reports that the lawsuit says Serrano-Vitorino re-entered the U.S. after being deported in 2003. The families claim he was released from Kansas jails in 2014 and 2015 after federal immigration officials didn’t follow procedures and missed chances to detain him.
First responders on the scene of Sunday’s accident-photo courtesy WIBW TV
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a person who suffered critical injuries after falling 25 feet was likely trying to jump a gap between two bridges in Kansas.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the man was transported to a Topeka hospital Sunday evening with injuries that are considered life-threatening. He’s believed to be between 17 and 20 years old.
Topeka Police Lt. Aaron Jones says the victim likely thought he could land safely or that there was something to catch him.
Jones says investigators don’t believe the victim intentionally jumped off the bridge, but that he may have been trying to jump between northbound and southbound bridges along Kansas Avenue.
Police say witnesses reported calling 911 after watching the fall. Jones says witnesses described him as “happy go lucky.”
TOPEKA–The Kansas Department of Commerce Office of Minority and Women Business Development is accepting nominations for Kansas minority and/or women owned businesses, advocates, young entrepreneurs and corporations. These nominations celebrate Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week, and nominees will be recognized at the annual Kansas Minority and Women Business Awards Luncheon to be held on Oct. 5 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka.
“Minority Enterprise Development Week offers us the opportunity to celebrate the many outstanding minority and women owned business in our state,” said Kansas Commerce Interim Secretary Nick Jordan. “These Businesses make Kansas a better place to live and work by creating jobs and giving back to their communities”
The deadline to nominate a business or individual is Friday, July 14. Online nomination forms can be accessed at KansasCommerce.gov/MEDweek. To request a hard copy of the form, please contact Rhonda Harris at [email protected] or (785) 296-3425. All forms submitted by mail must be postmarked by July 14. Forms can be mailed to Rhonda Harris, Office of Minority and Women Business Development, Kansas Department of Commerce, 1000 S.W. Jackson St., Suite 100, Topeka, KS 66612; faxed to (785) 296-3490; or emailed to [email protected].
The Office of Minority and Women Business Development provides assistance in business management, identifying resources for financing and establishing contacts in the public and private sectors. The office is responsible for certifying minority- and women-owned businesses as small disadvantaged businesses for procurement and subcontracting opportunities.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on felony charges.
Police say Jose Escobedo, 19, Salina, allegedly stole prepaid car wash tickets from the manager’s office at Casey’s General Store, 2404 South Ninth in Salina, according to Salina Police Capt. Paul Forrester.
Escobedo used the prepaid tickets to pocket cash paid by customers.
From June 26 to July 2, Escobedo allegedly stole $1,648 in cash. He was booked into the Saline County Jail for felony theft.
Monday rollover crash on I-70-photo Sherman Co. Sheriff
SHERMAN COUNTY- One person was injured in an accident just before 6p.m. Monday in Sherman County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Honda Civic driven by Gerardo Tarango-Olivas, 51,
Greeley, CO., was westbound on Interstate 70 seventeen miles west of Goodland.
The vehicle traveled left of center into the median and the driver overcorrected.
The vehicle traveled off the roadway to the right into the north ditch and overturned several times.
Tarango-Olivas was transported to the hospital in Goodland. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – An Overland Park man was sentenced Monday to 97 months in federal prison for distributing child pornography on the Internet while posing as a 46-year-old woman, according toU.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Frank Joseph Kurtz, 70, Overland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography. In his plea, he admitted that an investigation by the Israeli National Police first identified emails in which Kurtz used the alias “Lisayearning46” to send child pornography to another person.
The FBI in Kansas tracked the emails to Kurtz, who registered with Yahoo under the name “Lisa Lewis” and used photos he found on the Internet as his profile picture.
INMAN–The 25th annual We Kan! awards were announced May 6, 2017 at the Kansas Sampler Festival in Winfield. The awards are presented by the Kansas Sampler Foundation as appreciation for dedicated work in helping preserve and sustain rural culture.
Foundation director Marci Penner said, “Each year it is our pleasure to recognize ten unsuspecting people who do a great deal to keep our state moving forward.”
The recipients for 2017 are: Rosanna Bauman, Farming the future, Bauman’s Cedar Valley Farms, Garnett; Community of Winfield, Bringing Kansas Together 2016-2017; Kristi Lee, Making things happen, Leavenworth Convention & Visitors Bureau; Chris McCord, Shining light on the underground, Historic Wolf Hotel, Ellinwood; Julie Mulvihill, Connecting Communities, Kansas Humanities Council, Topeka; Jayne Humphrey Pearce, Making Wallace County Historic, Fort Wallace Museum, Wallace; Jacque Pregont, Attentive to Atchison, Atchison Chamber of Commerce; Kathy Richardson, Making Ad Hoc into an art form, Small World Gallery, Lindsborg; Len Schamber, Preserving Kansas, ala Len, Schamber Historic Preservation, Damar; Roxie Yonkey, Complementing Sherman Co., Sherman County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Goodland.
Penner said, “In their own unique way, each of these people has made a difference in rural life and it is our honor to recognize them.”
The awards plates are made by Elk Falls Pottery. To see a list of all We Kan! award winners go to kansassampler.org.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump’s commission investigating election fraud of failing to comply with a law designed to ensure public accountability. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is Vice Chairman of the commission.
The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Washington says the commission held its first meeting without notifying or making the meeting open to the public. The lawsuit says the commission also failed to make meeting records public. The ACLU says that violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The lawsuit also says the commission is improperly stacked with individuals who’ve supported Trump’s statements on illegal voting.
Department of Justice spokesman Ian Prior wrote in an email that the office is reviewing the complaint. He declined futher comment.
The commission’s request for the release of voter data has prompted other lawsuits.
Sunday boating incident in Jewell County-photo KDWP&T Game Wardens
JEWELL COUNTY – Access to life jackets helped two boaters safely reach the shore after their boat sank Sunday afternoon at Jewell State Fishing Lake, according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
A Game Warden, a Jewell County Sheriff’s Deputy and helpful citizens also helped get the boat out of the water and to a ramp.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Game Wardens reminded everyone to always wear a life jacket.
Jacob Lee Appel, age 32, passed away on Wednesday, July 5, 2017 at the Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas.
He was born on November 14, 1984 in Scott City, Kansas, the son of Robert Baxter and Pamela Marie Gimler Appel. After graduating from Scott Community High School, Jacob received his Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas in 2008 and moved to McPherson, Kansas until August of 2016 when he moved back to Scott City, Kansas.
He was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Scott City, Kansas.
Survivors include his Mother – Pam Appel of Scott City, Kansas, One Sister – Miranda & John Lara of Scott City, Kansas, One Brother – Joel Appel of Scott City, Kansas, One Niece – Maci Lara of Scott City, Kansas, Grandparents – Leon & HildIe Gimler of Parsons, Kansas, Numerous Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.
He was preceded in death by his Father – Robert Baxter Appel, One Uncle – Tony Akers and One Second Counsin – Ethan Rodenberg.
Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, July 15, 2017 at the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Scott City, Kansas with Fr. Warren Stecklein presiding.
Memorials in lieu of flowers may be made to Jacob L. Appel Memorial Fund in care of Price & Sons Funeral Homes.
Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Thursday and from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Friday at Price & Sons Funeral Home in Scott City, Kansas.
Interment will be in the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas.
Eric Shannon, 46, Assistant Lumber Yard Manager of B&B Lumber, died Friday, July 7, 2017.
Rosary will be at 7:00 pm, Tuesday, July 11, 2017; Funeral Mass will be at 10:30 am, Wednesday, July 12, 2017, both at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church.
Preceded in death by his mother, Carolyn (Herrman) Shannon; brother, Norman Joseph; sisters, Stephanie Lynn, Sharnelle Kay Singleterry. Survived by his wife, Jodi Shannon; daughter, Sage Shannon; son, Jesse Shannon; parents, Wesley and Sherleen (Holopirek) Shannon; sister, Stacy (Brad) Frickey; brother, Steven Shannon; brother-in-law, Ron Singleterry; grandpa, Paul Herrman; in-laws, Richard and Peggy Bockus; many nieces and nephews.
A memorial fund has been established for the Education for Eric Shannon’s Children.
There’s a lot of breath-holding going on among legislators over what might happen a week or so after July 18—that’s the day when the Kansas Supreme Court hears arguments on whether the Legislature did or didn’t adequately finance public education in Kansas.
Sometime, probably in August, maybe September, the court is going to rule on whether the state is constitutionally financing education in Kansas public schools.
The group of school districts that is challenging the state’s relatively new school finance formula maintains that the Legislature just isn’t spending enough money to make sure that all students—and especially those who aren’t performing to grade level averages—do better.
The state, defending the Legislature’s new plan, essentially is saying that it took special steps for those under-performing students to see additional funds allocated for their education—and has established a might-be-tough test for districts to make sure they are spending that additional “weighting” money for the under-performing kids.
Lawmakers were of course sharply divided on school finance—the money part—and policy—how to get enough money to school districts to get those students educated to the “Rose standards,” the baseline for determining whether kids from border to border are getting the education they need to be successful.
And, the additional $292 million lawmakers agreed to spend in the upcoming school year in the bill passed this session is either enough if you buy that targeting argument the state makes or not nearly enough because there’s no good prediction of whether it will work.
In the middle, remember, are the schoolchildren’s futures, whether it be jumping into the job market right out of high school or getting additional training or education, so that they can support themselves and their families-to-be, or at least moving out of their parents’ homes.
In two hours of carefully crafted arguments before the Supreme Court on July 18 the basic positions will be nailed down: The schools say the state isn’t spending enough, the state will maintain that it is and has set down rules to make sure the money is spent for the best possible outcome for the students.
Of course, money is tight in the state’s budget, even after a massive income tax increase this session. There’s the possibility that the Legislature didn’t raise taxes enough to constitutionally finance public education, and there’s the possibility that the basic management of public education is flawed.
And…don’t forget, the Supreme Court has in the past threatened not-very-convincingly to close public schools, maintaining that the appropriation for schools is unconstitutional because it doesn’t accomplish the goal of equally educating the state’s children.
While those oral arguments are going on, and everyone is watching the justices to see whether they appear to be buying the arguments from either side of the lawsuit, there’s a much broader issue the justices will be deciding.
With a new legislature set to start in January, an election year for all statewide offices and the Kansas House of Representatives (only the Senate above the fray due to its four-year terms), the decision of the court likely will shape the future of the leadership of the state.
Sure, it’s about the students, which many forget are the future of the state, but it is also about the leadership of the state. There is a possibility that no matter how cannily lawmakers established a program to improve the education of about 25% of the state’s schoolchildren who aren’t doing well, there just isn’t enough money there to work with.
It’s the money, of course, but it’s also about a lot more if those under-performing 25% of Kansas schoolchildren don’t have much of a future.
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs have promoted co-director of player personnel Brett Veach to general manager.
The appointment was announced Monday, about 2 1/2 weeks after Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt surprisingly fired John Dorsey, their GM of the past four years. Head coach Andy Reid’s contract was extended that same day.
Veach has begun his fifth season with the Chiefs, having spent his first two years with the team as a pro and college personnel analyst. He started his career in the NFL in Philadelphia, with three seasons as the assistant to Reid and three more as a scout for the Eagles.
The Chiefs will introduce Veach at a July 24 news conference.
Veach, a native of Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania, was a wide receiver and kickoff returner in college at Delaware.
